Not just the wrong battle. They are fighting the wrong people. The FSC’s Eric Paul Leue takes us back to where it all began.

Denied yesterday by the Cal/OSHA Board, Michael Weinstein next turns to the voters in November. Considering Trump’s standing the in polls, this could be a dangerous thing.

No one cares about the health and safety of adult performers more than the performers themselves. The FSC’s Pass system tailors itself to the very specific needs of our industry. Weinstein would like to tear that down, and take the whole industry with it.

Michael Weinstein, the head of the AIDS Healthcare Foundation, based in Los Angeles, has made a name for himself with controversial, often conservative stances on HIV and other sexually transmitted infections. He’s perhaps most famous in the gay community for his continued attacks on PrEP, the revolutionary HIV-blocking prevention regimen using a pill called Truvada (the only drug approved for PrEP so far), which he decries as a “party drug.”

Michael Weinstein leading an anti-PrEP protest in Ft. Lauderdale, FL in July 2010

But you might also know about his seven-year campaign against adult performers. He’s labeled them a public health crisis, accused them of bringing STIs to the general public, and pushed forth a ballot initiative in 2012 that enforced condoms on L.A. County porn sets, which decimated the local industry and likely encouraged unsafe underground production. Never mind that there were already stringent screening requirements in place, while on-set transmission of HIV is very rare, at least in the PASS compliant (Performer Availability Scheduling Services) adult industry.

But this year, Weinstein introduced a ballot initiative that would expand the condom enforcement statewide, severely fining production companies if they don’t comply and heralding the same effects that the L.A. initiative — though whittled down by courts following appeals from porn producers — has wrought.

PrEP isn’t the enemy. Porn isn’t the enemy. The disease is the enemy. Leue ties it all together at the end.

Imagine the public discussion that could come if AHF’s resources, and that bully pulpit, changed its focus from porn stars and condo buildings to those still suffering disproportionately from the epidemic: transgender women, people of color, low-income men who have sex with men, and injection drug users. Unfortunately, so long as Michael Weinstein is in charge of AHF, and his board doesn’t pay attention, the foundation will continue to use up its resources on more camera-ready.

He’s attacked adult performers. He’s lied to our community. And now he’s again smearing Senate Candidate Scott Wiener for supporting us. The hour is here and the time is now to silence Weinstein forever.